Concern grows about new apartments coming too close to neighborhoods in Colorado Springs area

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Since our story last Friday about opposition to a proposed apartment complex by adjacent homeowners, two similar situations have arisen -- a disturbing trend for residential neighborhoods and potentially problematic for local planners.

In addition to the planned project in the Briargate area of northeast Colorado Springs, viewers who saw that report notified us of projects being considered near the intersection of Powers and Grinnell boulevards in Security-Widefield, and at Black Forest and Woodmen roads in the Quail Brush Creek area.

According to an email from a Security-Widefield resident, the proposed project would be from 300 to 350 units -- similar to the Briargate plan -- with monthly rents starting at around $1,500 for one-bedroom dwellings.

"They (developer) told us that the apartments would provide housing for employees at the new Amazon facility across the road," the resident wrote. "But how can someone just starting out afford that much? We'd rather have houses there that can be integrated into the neighborhood, or a restaurant and shops because we have limited options in this area."

Meanwhile, an email from the Quail Brush Creek Homeowners Association said that proposed project raises several questions.

"Our biggest concerns are the high density, the fact that a rental neighborhood is going to bring down our property values, and most of all -- our ability to safely evacuate if there should be an emergency situation like a fast moving fire," the email states. "The City is overbuilding in our opinion, without first making sure that the road infrastructures are in place. We feel that at the very least, the City or the developer should have to create a new road from their development connecting to a major road nearby, such as Dublin, Woodmen, or Marksheffel."

Increased noise and traffic, and the loss of the neighborhoods' quiet atmosphere are other sources of worry for affected homeowners.

Two local planners responded Monday to the concerns.

"I don't think there's proof that (the projects) lower property values," said Craig Blewitt, of the El Paso County planning department. "We've had other projects like this before and they've worked pretty well, and more coming on line. And it's not like that neighborhood is completely residential. You have the airport and Amazon across the road."

Katelyn Wintz, the city's project coordinator for the Briargate proposal, said that officials are considering homes and townhomes, as well as apartments, as they try to balance meeting record housing demand with sensitivity to neighbor concerns.

"So we, as the city, are not setting the stage for certain developments to be built in certain areas," she said. "That's all market-driven. We're simply taking in applications and evaluating them. Nothing has been decided yet."

All three projects are in the early stages of the approval process, with opportunities ahead for the public to submit feedback; developers are requesting that the properties be rezoned to allow construction.

A Security-Widefield homeowner said that she hopes the developer -- if that project is approved -- will build a park for the complex and two surrounding neighborhoods to enjoy.

"We were supposed to get a park when our subdivision was built but it never happened," the homeowner said.

Neighbors in the three areas are organizing their opposition, but one expressed mixed feelings.

"I've seen good and bad from apartment complexes, having lived in them before," said Tony Betancourt. "I think (the project) is going to create more places for people to live, but it it going to crowd a bit because we're already pretty crowded here. As long as the (apartment) community's good, I don't really have a problem with it."

Planners and developers -- and people eager for more housing options -- hope that Betancourt's ray of optimism will spread as the approval process continues.